Hi Rachell,
The aquarium heater is the one apparatus which the fish are totally
dependent upon to stay alive, as it's essential that the fish remain within the
temperature range they need. All others, as lights, filters and aeration
devices, are really not needed for them to live as long as regular water
maintenance procedures are followed. As such, the heater (or heating system) is the
sole item that should never be scrimped on when purchased.
It has long been established, that 2 Watts per gallon is needed to raise
the temperature 5 degrees above the ambient (room) temperature in which the
aquarium is being kept. So, as an example, if the room is kept at 68 o during
the Winter, and you want to keep the water temperature at 78 o, this 10
degree difference will require 4 Watts per gallon to raise and keep the water
at that temperature -- or, 80 Watts for a 20 gallon tank.. As a 20 gallon
tank is never kept completely filled to the very top, and as the substrate and
rock (and driftwood, etc.) will also displace water, a 75 Watt heater is
sufficient -- provided it's of good quality. Much more than 75 Watts can cook
your fish if the heater ever malfunctions in sticking on.
I also notice that in Winter, you keep the room warm, and while you haven't
stated this very important information needed to figure the size of your
heater, if you do keep the room at 73 o to 74 o, I certainly would recommend
you get a heater any larger than this -- but again, I must stress that you
should get a quality heater as cheaper ones can be inferior in not maintaining
the proper temperature.
I you feel you need to use 100 Watts of heating, I'd definitely recommend
that you get two 50 Watt heaters to share the work load. In this way, if one
sticks on, it can't cook the fish by itself and the other one will remain
off since it will be set to do so when the right temperature is reached (or
exceeded). Likewise, if one heater fails to come on, the other one will
ensure the temperature remains above the bottom line for the fishes' temperature
requirements.
Today's best heater technology seems to be in the submersible heaters, and
Eheim Jagor heaters are one of the best. A very close runner-up for a
quality heater is Marineland's Visi-Therm heater. Two heaters will naturally be
more of an expense than first anticipated, but it's cheap insurance when
considering losing a tank of fish if using a single heater cooks or doesn't
provide any heat at all. Best prices are often found on the more reputable
on-line supply houses.
Ray</HTML>
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